Drew Duncan Quaich

The Quaich was won this year by George Hay's team of Peter Galloway, Jim Henry and Bert McKay. They beat Jim Dunlop's team by 12 shots to 2.

Other winners on the night were the teams skipped by David Hope, Francis McCrossin and Colin Naismith.

The table of results is here.

After the games, we had an excellent meal, courtesy of  Passion Caterers.

Drew Duncan Quaich

Monday night sees the annual game for the Drew Duncan Quaich.

The draw is taken from the finishing positions in the Fraser Cup, with the reserves making up the final team, and will be as follows.

Colin Naismith v   Peter Kennedy
Ronnie Peat      v   Francis McCrossin
Jim Dunlop       v   George Hay
Charlie Jack      v   The Reserves

The game will be over 8 ends with each player skipping for two ends.  If a team only has three players, since there are no more reserves there will be no penalty. The first two players would then skip for three ends and the normal skip would do two.

There will be a meal after the game.

President's Cup

The first games in this year's President's Cup resulted in a win for Allan Hastie over Richard Morrison by 8 shots to 4, a win for Peter Reynolds by 13 shots to 4 over Ken Ross and a win for David Gray over Peter Galloway.

In this year's competition each team will play four games over the five weeks of play (one free week). One semi final will be played between the first and fourth ranked rinks and the other between the second and third. The semis and final are on Feb 10th.

The league table is here.

Next week at 5.00 we will be playing the Drew Duncan Quaich.  We have 8 teams out, so there won't be many subs available.  No penalty if a team only has three players.  There is a meal after the game.

Final League Position - Fraser Cup

Colin Naismith and his team of Peter Reynolds, Robert Boyd and Jimmy Begg (with David Scott subbing for Peter) won the Fraser Cup this evening, but it was a close run thing.

They started on 8 points, knowing that a point would be enough to secure the title, and were cruising with a 6-2 lead after 5 ends. However, our Vice President Francis McCrossin and his team had other ideas. They took a 5 at the 6th and traded shots at the 7th and 8th ends to win by a single shot.

Peter Kennedy's team was the only one within reach and he duly won by 8 shots to 7 to also reach 8 points.  However, his ends+ tally of 21 was three short of Colin's.

In the last game, Ronnie Peat's team stole a 4 at the last end to pip the unlucky Charlie Jack by 9 shots to 8.

The final league positions are shown here.

Nest week is the first round of the President's Cup.

European Championships

This Saturday sees the start of the European Championships in Champery, Switzerland.

Scotland will be represented by teams skipped by Eve Muirhead and David Edwards as they strive for medals in the "A" Division. All Ayrshire folk will be rooting even more than usual for the Men's team, where Billy Morton plays lead stones.

The event website with details of the draw can be found here.

The games will be broadcast on Eurosport from Monday and you can watch Scotland play Germany at 2.00 pm C.E.T. (1.00 pm GMT).  The full schedule of broadcasts can be found by clicking this link. Live Coverage will also be available on the WCF World Curling TV channel, although,as always, I'm never sure whether this is available if Eurosport are covering the game.

For an insight into life at a Major Champioships, follow this link to Team Edwards preparations for the event and their season so far. I'm sure it will be interesting to follow their week.

Eve's women's team is Anna Sloan at Third, Vicki Adams at Second and Sara Reid at lead.  They start their campaign with a game against Denmark at 2.00 pm GMT on Saturday and their game against Germany is scheduled to be shown live on Eurosport at 7.30 pm GMT on Tuesday.

One Week to Go!

Tonight Colin Naismith's team made a dash for the line by beating Peter Kennedy's rink by 7 shots to 5.  There were also good wins for Francis McCrossin over Ronnie Peat by 10 shots to 7 and Charlie Jack over Jim Dunlop by the same margin.

So there is one week left in this season's Fraser Cup.

The Naismith rink have 8 points and if they win next week they will win the Trophy.  If, however, they slip up, Peter Kennedy's rink could overtake them if they beat George Hay.  All to play for (and I'm afraid the rest of us will be down the field).

The league can be found here.

Match against the Swiss Tourists

The Gangrels were honoured to be asked to field a team to play against the Swiss Tourists yesterday.
Ronnie Peat, Robert Boyd, Jimmy Begg and Bob Cherry were one of four teams playing for Ayr, the others being skipped by Colin Murdoch, Billy Howat and Rab Clark.

The touring party are in the middle of a 15 day tour of the ice rinks in Scotland, under the auspices of the RCCC.

We played well, winning by 16 shots to 4, and eventually all 4 Ayr teams were winners, although after 4 ends it was a lot closer.

An excellent dinner followed and we were delighted that Provost Helen Moonie was able to attend and lend her support by speaking of the good work done by the curlers, skaters and other sportsmen in South Ayrshire.

After the meal, the entertainment was led by Andrew Jones on his accordion. Jimmy Begg regaled us with his thoughts about "Oor Skip".

The Swiss then took over with songs from Maya Ryman, one of Switzerland's top yodellers, accompanied by the Fuchs family on organ, accordion and "saw".

It was a fantastic night, enjoyed by everyone, and a great credit to Andrew Kerr and his organising team.

More photos of the day can be found on the Ayr website, by clicking here.

Fraser Cup Week 5

Colin Naismith, Jim Dunlop and Peter Kennedy skipped the winning teams yesterday, although Peter was generous enough to say that Ken Ross had played very well against him as skip and had been very unlucky to lose.
Three teams now sit on top of the league with 6 points, with a two more only two points adrift.
Check the league position here.

Closer Still

I mentioned last week that the league was close, with 3 teams standing on 4 points. Well it just became closer!

There are now 5 teams sharing top spot on 4 points, separated only by ends scored and lost. The other two teams are not far away either, being only two points behind.

Congratulations to the winners last night, the teams skipped by Ronnie Wilson (for Peter Kennedy), Colin Naismith and Jim Dunlop.

See the latest position here.

Week 3 in the Fraser Cup

Talk about a league being close.  Only two points separate all 7 teams after last night's games.
There were wins for Colin Naismith, George Hay and Peter Kennedy and everyone has now broken their "duck".
George's team of Peter Galloway, Jim Henry and Bert McKay now top the league on 4 points.  The league positions are here.

Match v Beresford Ladies

We had a very enjoyable game and meal last night in our match against the ladies of Beresford.

All three games ended with comfortable victories and we then had an excellent and convivial meal, courtesy of Passion Caterers.

We wish the ladies well in their preparations for their 50th Anniversary in January.

Fraser Cup - Week 2

Colin Naismith's team was the one to have a bye in the second week of the Fraser Cup tonight. Francis McCrossin skipped his team to a narrow 6-5 win over Charlie Jack on sheet 1.  On sheet 2, Ronnie Peat's team also had a close game against George Hay, taking three shots at the last end to win by 8-4.
The third game, between Jim Dunlop and Peter Kennedy stood at 4-2 after 5 ends, but scores of two and three at the last two ends gave Jim's team a 9-3 victory.

The up to date league position is here.

New Season at Ayr Ice Rink

The Gangrels gathered together for their first league games of the season. Only six rinks were taking part, since one team has a bye each week.

On tricky ice there were wins for the teams skipped by Charlie Jack, who beat Colin Naismith's rink 8-2, Ronnie Peat, who beat Jim Dunlop's rink, also by 8-2 and George Hay, who beat Francis McCrossin's rink by 7 shots to 5.

Prior to the game, Honorary President Jim Henry delivered the season's opening stone.

A good meal was provided for us by Passion Caterers.

The Fraser Cup League positions can be found here.

75th Anniversary Bonspiel and Dinner

6 rinks of Gangrels took on Invited Rinks from Ayr & Alloway, Ayr Curling Club, Beresford Ladies, The Disney Club, Tarbolton and DAFS in a friendly bonspiel yesterday afternoon.

The Gangrels took their motto of "The game first, the result second" to heart and made sure that none of the visitors had to depart on the losing side.

The best Gangrels Rink was Ronnie Wilson's, who managed a draw against Ayr Curling Club.  The best result for the visitors was a win for the Disney Club.

Afterwards, we repaired for an excellent meal, courtesy of Passion Caterers,  and an evening of fellowship with good speeches under the chairmanship of President Ronnie Peat.

Jim Henry, Ronnie Peat, Billy Howat and Alistair Henry

The Toast to Gangrels CC was by Billy Howat, Vice President of the RCCC.  Ronnie replied and toasted our guests.  Alistair Henry then followed with a response and the final speaker was Honorary President Jim Henry, who gave his recollections of his many years in the club.

New Season

Our Secretary Bob expects to have the cards back from the printers and out to you by the middle of this week.

Our first league games are on Monday 13th October but there are a couple of events prior to that.

There is coaching with Kirsty Letton and other ACC coaches arranged specifically for the Gangrels at 5pm on Monday 29^th September.Cost £7 pp (to be paid on the night). One to one advice, tips,and guidance on improving delivery and technique will be given. Those who attended last year found it very worthwhile.

The 75^th Anniversary Bonspiel is on Sunday 5^th October. The curling starts at 4pm, the dinner at 7pm.Tickets for both are £30 and for the dinner only £20. Spouses welcome to both.. Please enclose payment with your subscription and ice money to Ronnie Wilson. First come first served for places in the bonspiel: we should be able to accommodate all who wish to attend the dinner. Various guests have been invited. It should be an excellent event.

Following the untimely death of our previous Honorary President, Jim Watson I am very pleased to announce that Jim Henry has accepted the committee's unanimous recommendation and will be installed as our new Honorary President at our 75th Anniversary Dinner.

Garden Opening - Doonholm on Sunday 25th May

Peter Kennedy is opening the garden at Doonholm House on Sunday 25th May. The details are shown below and Peter wishes to extend an invitation to all Gangrels.

GARDEN OPENING

All proceeds to

Belleisle Conservatory Restoration

Scottish Registered Charity No SC042074

And

Marie Curie Cancer Care

Scottish Registered Charity No SC038731

DOONHOLM HOUSE

Alloway, Ayr KA6 6BL

(Signposted from Burns Cottage, Alloway and A77)

SUNDAY

25^th MAY 2014

1 pm  -  4.30 pm

Historic gardens on the banks of the Doon

Rhododendrons - Azaleas - Mature Trees

Teas, Plant and Baking Stalls, Ice Creams, Demonstration Beehive and Falconry

ADMISSION:            £5.00   School children £1.00

(under 5's free)

IMPORTANT - Please Vote in RCCC Curling Awards

Ayr Curling Club has been honoured by featuring in two categories of the Annual Scottish Curling Awards.

GRASSROOTS COACH OF THE YEAR CATEGORY

We are delighted that Kirsty Letton has been nominated in the Grassroots Coach of the Year Category. This well deserved nomination is no surprise to those who have seen the drive and enthusiasm that Kirsty has brought to Ayr's Coaching over many years.

She has developed an enthusiastic team of coaches who have all been highly successful in promoting the game in Ayr and helping to develop curlers of all abilities. Being able to cope with the tremendous response to Try Curling, and Schools and Corporate Groups is a true testament to the abilities of Kirsty's team.

ICE DIAMOND AWARD CATEGORY

We are also pleased to announce that Ayr Curling Club Development Group has been nominated in the Ice Diamond Award Category.

This is a fantastic recognition of the progress that has been made by Euan Lawrence and his team, in only their first year of action. The group met a significant majority of the targets set for them by the RCCC and as a result secured additional funding which will be used to benefit everyone at Ayr.

Details of all the nominees can be found on the RCCC website or by clicking here.

Being nominated for the shortlist for these two prestigious awards is great news, but it would be even better if we were able to win them. The other nominees are also strong candidates!

I would urge everyone who is an RCCC member  to help achieve that win and promote Ayr Curling Club by voting now.  There are two ways of doing so.

  

You can vote online through the RCCC membership database if they hold a valid email address for you in their system.  Simply click Membership Database to log in.  Once you have logged in you will be presented with your voting options.  If you need assistances please contact the RCCC office on 0131 333 3003.

Alternatively you can download a voting form by clicking here, complete it and return it to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, Cairnie House, Ingliston Showground, Newbridge, Midlothian EH28 8NB.

Online voting closes at midnight on Thursday, 15th May 2014, while paper voting forms will be accepted at the RCCC office until noon on Friday, 16th May 2014.

World Seniors Championships and World Mixed Doubles Championships

Thursday 24th April sees the start of three World Championships, all being held at Dumfries.

In the Senior Men's Championships, Scotland are represented by Keith Prentice's team of Lockhart Steele, Robert Anderson and Tommy Fleming.  Robert Clark is the alternate.
They start their campaign against Russia at 11.45 on the 24th, in Group B that also includes the Czech Republic, England, Finland, Hungary and New Zealand. 

 

There are three sections and the top two qualify automatically for the quarter finals with two of the three third places also qualifying.

The Senior Women's team of Christine Cannon, Margaret Richardson, Isobel Hannen, Janet Lindsay and alternate Margaret Robertson also start next Thursday with a game against Canada in the evening.  The Women are in two sections and Scotland's other opponents in Group B are Australia, Finland, Italy, Russia and Switzerland.

There are a record 34 teams taking part in the World Mixed Double Championships which are also being held in Dumfries.

The teams are placed in four groups with the winners of each group qualifying for the quarter finals and the second and third placed teams playing off to join them.

Scotland are represented by Gina Aitken and Bruce Mouat. Their first game, in Group B is at 12.00 against Latvia.

The draws for all three competitions can be found at the event website here.

The Mixed Doubles are being shown on the WCF YouTube Channel.

Details of tickets are here.  They can be ordered online or purchased at the door.

World Men's Curling Championships

Saturday will see the start of this year's World Championships. They are being held in Beijing, China and the action starts at 2.00 pm, local time, which I think will be 7.00 am in Scotland.  Scotland's first game is against Sweden.

The full schedule of events is shown here. You will also see a schedule of TV coverage on that page. I understand that Eurosport is covering the event so I'm not sure if that means we'll be geoblocked from watching the games on the WCF/ YouTube Curling Channel. Give it a try for yourself by clicking here, but if it doesn't show games then you have to use Eurosport on TV or on their website.

Results are being provided by Curlit - click here.

Scotland are being represented by the very experienced Ewan MacDonald, along with Duncan Fernie, David Reid (from Stewarton Heather) and Eua

Frame Salver and AGM

We had the pleasure of welcoming Honorary President Jim Watson and Alistair Henry last night, with Alistair managing to throw a few stones in Bert McKay's team.
The deserved winners of the Frame Salver were the team of Charlie Jack, Jim Dunlop, Richard Morrison and Robert Charters who had a good 9-3 victory over Ronnie Peat's team.

Frame Salver Winners
Bob Charters, Richard Morrison, Jim Dunlop, Charlie Jack (skip)

In due course, we hope to publish the full report of the AGM along with the President's and Match Secretary's reports.

For the moment, Ronnie Peat was elected as President and Francis McCrossin as Vice President.
The general committee will in future be reduced from 6 to 4 and Peter Galloway, David Moulds, Peter Reynolds and Ken Ross will continue as committee members.

We were given notice of our 75th Anniversary Bonspiel and Dinner. This will be held on Sunday 5th October.  6 sheets of ice have been booked at 4.15. 6 other clubs will be invited to send a team and there will be a dinner in the evening, catered by Passion Caterers, for club members, guests and wives.

Here are some photos of last night's prizewinners.

Fraser Cup Winners
Bob Charters, George Hodge, Richard Morrison, Bob Cherry (skip)

President's Cup Winners
Peter Reynolds, Jim Henry, Ronnie Peat, Jim Dunlop (skip)

Kirkbride Rosebowl Winners
David Gray, Gerry Watson, Jimmy Niblock, Jimmy Begg (skip)

Drew Duncan Quaich Winners
Colin Naismith, Peter Galloway, George Hay, Steell McFadzean (skip)

Pairs Winners
Gerry Watson and Euan Lawrence

Joint Winners of Points Trophy
Ronnie Peat and Robert Boyd (40 points)

Sportsman's Award
Ken Ross

Points Competition

There were some good scores tonight on tricky ice in the Points Competition.
In the first session, the top two were the Boyds, father and son, with Robert scoring 40 points and Russell on 35.
In the second session, top was Ronnie Peat, also on 40 points, with David Hope on 26.

So the trophy will be shared between Robert & Ronnie.

Top scores
Robert Boyd     40
Ronnie Peat      40
Russell Boyd    35
Ken Ross         28
David Gray       28
David Hope      26

Jimmy Begg wins Kirkbride Rosebowl

Seven shots in the first three ends went a long way towards winning the trophy tonight.  Jimmy Begg's team of Gerry Watson, David Gray and Jimmy Niblock then swapped threes with Francis McCrossin and his team of Allan Hastie, David Moulds and Bob Cherry (subbing for David Hope).
Although Francis scored five shots over the last two ends, he couldn't quite catch up and the game finished with a score of 10-8 to Jimmy Begg.

Kirkbride Rosebowl Runners Up
Bob Cherry, Allan Hastie, David Moulds and Francis McCrossin

Kirkbride Rosebowl Winners 2014
Jimmy Niblock, Jimmy Begg, Gerry Watson and David Gray

In the Low Road Final Ronnie Peat's team of Jim Dunlop, Jim Henry and Robert Boyd also got off to a good start, building up a 10 shot lead after 4 ends against Steell McFadzean.

Steell's team of George Hay, Colin Naismith and Peter Galloway started a fightback but eventually shook hands with the score 10-3.

Colin Naismith said "It was closer that it looked" and  he was right because every end was closely fought.

Low Road Runners Up
Colin Naismith, Peter Galloway, Steell McFadzean and George Hay

Low Road Winners
Ronnie Peat, Jim Dunlop, Jim Henry and Robert Boyd

Kirkbride Rosebowl Semi Finals

Jimmy Begg and David Hope will contest the Rosebowl High Road Final this Wednesday. Jimmy's team held off the challenge of Euan Lawrence, scoring a two at the last to win by 11 shots to 8.
David Hope always seemed to have the upper hand against Bob Cherry, winning eventually by 11 shots to 3.

The Low Road final will be between Ronnie Peat and Steell McFadzean.  Ronnie's team beat Charlie Jack by 11 shots to 4 and Steel won by 9 shots to 5.

Pairs Trophy is won by Gerry and Euan

There was some really good curling last night and many closely fought contests as the High Road and Low Road Semis and Finals were played.

High Road
David Gray and Jimmy Niblock beat David Hope and Robert Boyd in their semi final where they met Gerry Watson and Euan Lawrence.  They had beaten Charlie Jack and Ronnie Peat in the other semi.

The final was a close game with singles taken by Euan and Gerry in the first two ends, but the game changed when they stole a 4 in the third. At 6-0, the game was over and David and Jimmy shook hands.

Pairs Winners - High Road 2014
Gerry Watson and Euan Lawrence
(Note Euan hiding his non Gangrel sweater!)

High Road Runners Up
Jimmy Niblock and David Gray

Low Road

The first semi in the low road was as close as could be with the teams finishing on 6 shots each after 4 ends - high scoring indeed!

It required a draw by the skips to decide the winner and President Bob Cherry distinguished himself by covering the button with his stone. Peter Kennedy, playing with David Moulds, couldn't quite match that and Bob and George Hodge progressed to the final, where David Hope subbed for Bob, who couldn't stay.

The other semi was also close but was won by Russell Boyd and Bob Grassom, who beat Ken Ross and Colin Naismith.

The final was again decided by the last stone with David Hope playing an excellent take out to lie one and win the game 3-2.

Low Road Runners Up
Bob Grassom and Russell Boyd

Low Road Winners
David Hope and George Hodge

GB Women win Bronze Medal

In a fantastic game of curling, Eve Muirhead's team game out fighting in the second half.  They were tied at 3-3 after 5 ends and really put the pressure on Miriam Ott's Swiss team.

In the 9th end, leading by one shot Eve played a great tap with her last to lie three.  This followed excellent precision play by her team and forced Miriam to draw for a one, tie the game and leave GB with last stone in the 10th.

Two great tick shots from Claire Hamilton set up the end and all the team played well leaving Eve with a four foot draw, played perfectly, to win the game and Bronze for Britain. Heartiest Congratulations to Eve, Anna, Vicki and Claire.

You may also be interested in this video clip, which Bob Cherry found amusing.

Men's Final tomorrow at 1.30.

Second Round of Pairs Competition

It's always encouraging to see Gangrels turning out at 9.30, and indeed 10.30, to play some Pairs on a Monday night. There were some good games played last night and the winning teams will now play in the semis of the High and Low Roads on 25th February.
The semis start at 5.00  and 6.00 and the finals at 7.15 and 8.15.

Here are the draws for the semi finals The finals follow on thereafter.

25.2.14

Playing at 5.00 pm
Top Half High Road
David Hope & R Boyd   v   D Gray and J Niblock

Top Half Low Road
G Hodge & B Cherry     v   P Kennedy and D Moulds

Playing at 6.00 pm
Bottom Half High Road
G Watson & E Lawrence  v R Peat & C Jack

Bottom Half Low Road
Russell Boyd & B Grassom  v  K Ross & C Naismith

Gangrels v Ayr & Alloway

A close (ish) finish, but ultimately a win for Ayr & Alloway.

Bob Cherry and his team of David Gray, Ernest Mutter and Robert Boyd had a close game but in the end were three down to Jim Nelson's A & A rink.
In the other game, Ronnie Peat, Charlie Jack, Richard Morrison and Ken Ross were leading by one shot at the last end.  In a do or die attempt at scoring a 3 or 4 to win the overall game, Ronnie chose the wrong side of a front A & A stone to hit - not deliberately - and this had the unfortunate consequence of removing his own two stones and leaving the opposition with a lot of theirs in the house.
Eventual score Ayr & Alloway 15, Gangrels 7.
Both games were played in good spirit, continued afterwards in the bar.

President's Cup Final

The final tonight saw Steell McFadzean's unbeaten rink come up against Ronnie Peat's team.  Jim Dunlop, who had skipped Ronnie's team in all the previous rounds was on holiday, so Jim Hendry took over the duties with David Hope coming in at third.
George Hay, skipping the McFadzean team, took single shots at the first and third ends but lost a four and a six at the second and fourth, and eventually shook hands with the score at 11-4 to Jim Henry, David Hope, Peter Reynolds and Ronnie Peat.

President's Cup Winners 2014
Jim Hendry (skip), David Hope, Peter Reynolds, Ronnie Peat

Runners Up
Colin Naismith, Steell McFadzean, Peter Galloway, George Hay (skip)

First Round of the Pairs Competition

The draw for the second round of the pairs is as follows.   Winners of tonight's First Round matches will be playing in the High Road and Losers in the Low Road.

All games will be next Monday, 17th February.  I have used the teams shown in the original draw.

Playing at 9.30 on 17th

High Road

G Hay and D Hope         v        J Dunlop and P Reynolds
D Gray & J Niblock        v        A Thomson & F McCrossin

Low Road

R Wilson & R Morrison  v       G Hodge  & B Cherry
E Mutter & P Kennedy   v       A Hastie & D Kidd

Playing at 10.30 on 17th

High Road

G Watson & E Lawrence v     P Galloway & D Scott
R Peat & C Jack              v     D Cattenach & S McFadzean

Low Road

H Peters & B Charters     v     Russell Boyd & B Grassom
B McKay & S Thomson  v     K Ross & C Naismith

President's Cup Semi Finals

Tonight saw wins for Steell McFadzean and Ronnie Peat.  Steell 's team was in the capable hands of George Hay as they beat Jimmy Begg's team by 7 shots to 3, thus gaining revenge for their defeat on Monday in the Kirkbride Rose Bowl.
The other semi was a close game, but Jim Dunlop skipped Ronnie Peat's team to a three shot victory over Euan's team, skipped by Bob Grasssom.
The final will be played next Tuesday at 5.00 pm.

Kirkbride Rose Bowl Round 1

Four first round ties last night and Euan Lawrence booked the first of the High Road semi final slots by beating Bert McKay's team 13-3.
The other three games were far closer, none more so than Jimmy Begg against Steell McFadzean. They were tied at 8-8 after eight ends and had to resort to the dreaded draw shot challenge to decide the winner. Having fought back from 8-2 down over the last three ends, the momentum was with Jimmy's team and he did the necessary to win an exceedingly close game.
There good wins also for Bob Cherry, who beat Ronnie Peat 5-3, and David Hope, who took a 4 at the last end to beat Charlie Jack 10-8.
The semis are in 4 weeks time, on 3rd March.  Everyone is still in the competition and the draw for the High and Low Roads can be found here.

Final League Positions in President's Cup

In the last remaining game in the President's league, Steell McFadzean's team, skipped by George Hay had a close game against a Francis McCrossin skipped David Hope team, winning eventually by 5 shots to 3.  Steell's team were unbeaten and progress to the semis next Tuesday night.
The remaining 3 teams had all beaten each other and so all stood on 2 points. They were separated by ends plus and, despite not playing last night, Euan Lawrence's team secured the second semi final place.
In the Vice President's league there were wins for Charlie Jack's team over Bert McKay and Ronnie Peat's team over Jimmy Begg.
Ronnie and Jimmy also have qualified and represent the Vice President in next week's semis.
The final league positions are here.

President's Cup - Week 3

Steell McFadzean maintained his position as leader in the President's Rinks, despite not playing tonight. Bob Cherry's team, skipped by George Hodge had an 11-4 victory over Euan Lawrence's team, with Bob Grassom in the head.
If you look at the league table. you'll see that there are three teams on 2 points. Only two play next week - Steell and David Hope.  A win for David will put him in the semis. A win for Steell makes anything possible, since Ends Won is the first determinant.

In the Vice President's Rinks, Jimmy Begg's team, ably skipped by Gerry Watson, continued their winning ways with a 12 - 4 win over Bert McKay. Bert's team was skipped by Peter Kennedy.
The other game was close all the way and finished as a 6 - 6 draw. Charlie Jack's team scored a three at the last to secure a point against Ronnie Peat's team, skipped by Jim Dunlop.

Jimmy Begg's team are through and Bert's team are out but who knows what the final result will be.

The league table is here.

Province Bonspiel and a "New" Sub

The Medal was won by Stewarton Heather who finished +7 and were one of the few clubs to win both their games.
Second place went to Ayr & Alloway  with +6 shots and third place was a tie between Dundonald and Galston Haymouth.
Both Gangrel teams lost their games and we thus distinguished ourselves by coming last.

On a more positive note, the best news of the year is that Robert Boyd is now fit, well and will be delighted to sub for anyone, day or night.

Last Night's Results and Burns Supper

In the President's league, last night saw wins for Steell McFadzean and Euan Lawrence over Bob Cherry and David Hope.  Steell is now the only unbeaten team in that section.

In the Vice President's league, there was only one game, between Jimmy Begg and Charlie Jack, with Jimmy winning by 9 shots to 5.

The league positions can be found here.

Tickets for this year's Burns Supper are now available from Committee Members or from The Ice Rink Office.

An excellent Programme of Speakers has been lined up, including David Reid, Cathy Costello, David Bell and Norman Geddes.

There will be songs from Neil Sands and no doubt some others.

It's surely an event not to be missed, so book your ticket now to avoid disappointment. Ronnie and Euan should have tickets.

Strategy and Tactics Seminar

Next Wednesday evening a seminar on Strategy and Tactics has been organised.

This is aimed particularly at club curlers who wish have a better knowledge of tactics, but everyone will be welcome, no matter their experience.

The course will be taken by Sheila Swan and Judith McCleary of the RCCC and is a joint initiative between Ayr's Development Group and the RCCC.  Please put your name on the list at the Ice Rink or let Theresa at the office know on      01292 264014   or  ayrshirecurlers@btconnect.com